The ways people have lived and their beliefs and goals and expectations have been the most important ingredients of history. Everything else happens within the contexts of how and why people conduct their lives the way they do. In turn, people’s ideas are profoundly related to the conditions of their lives.
Explains approach to history
For this paper, therefore, select an ideological position, a set of behaviors, or a social institution that existed in what is now the United States sometime between 1600 and 1860. Then explore the lives and beliefs of a person or group of persons who supported that position, activity, or institution. Select an ordinary individual, someone who is not well known, or create a character who is a composite of people who were involved in a major historical shift or event.
Two choices — situation and person
Show person’s point of view
Your paper will have two parts. One will detail the results of your research, explaining whose position you are taking and the historical situation in which that position was significant in political, business, or domestic matters. It will set the historical context for the second part, which will make a persuasive argument for the position you have selected based on the person you have chosen. The form that your second part takes is up to you. You may simply write an essay, or you may attempt to persuade your audience through a letter, a sermon, diary entries, or a dialogue. Remember that the purpose of this paper is to analyze and to argue from your adopted perspective, showing your understanding of the historical circumstances.
1st part reports research
2nd part shows person — can choose genre
Purpose — analyze & argue
Length: 10 to 12 pages in addition to a bibliography at the end that lists the primary and secondary sources, including books and articles that you consulted to help you understand your character’s life and beliefs.
Also need bib — 3rd part
This assignment offers students an opportunity to gain an enriched understanding of a moment in history. It requires three different sections — a report on research, a presentation of an individual, and a bibliography. It requires various types of writing (as varied as an essay, a letter, a diary, or a sermon), various critical activities (such as analysis, argument, and persuasion), and various kinds of sources (primary and secondary). Following are brief selections from Benjamin Reitz’s paper, illustrating some of the different types of writing that the assignment required.